Lagging ticket sales for events continues to prove challenging in the local hospitality industry, with people still wary of attending events since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

Commodore on the Park and The Henty director Michael Kosch said the demand for bookings was certainly slower and later compared to pre-COVID times.

“Traditionally in a regional sense, like Mount Gambier, there’s always been a bit of a slow take-up on events and committing to ticketed events particularly,” Mr Kosch said.

“Quite often that leaves it until the last week before people jump in and make their commitment to an event.

“However, across the COVID period and particularly in the last 12 months when we were able to trade more freely, we certainly noticed a lesser uptake to events.

“Some of them were scaled back, unfortunately some of them were cancelled and that was largely driven by people’s reluctance to commit at the risk of being found either COVID positive or being a close contact and having to isolate.”

Mr Kosch, who is also The Chamber’s vice president, said he was hopeful the recent announcements regarding COVID isolation periods ending would change consumer behaviour when committing to events.

“I think if you view what has been going on in the community, there’s been a lot of events cancelled in recent months and that’s largely around that same issue of potential for COVID or isolation as a result of close contacts,” he said.

“We just need that certainty and hopefully we have got that certainty through the recent announcements for people to feel more confident to go out and enjoy life and be in licensed venues and attend events.”

Mr Kosch said last-minute bookings affected the business in regards to planning ahead such as catering, which he said was a particularly challenging environment with sharp increases in cost of goods sold.

“All those things are really pushing higher which really eats into your margins,” he said.

“Hopefully we can pass on some of that in price, but that certainly does make it difficult to plan and create events which are appealing to consumers as well at potentially higher price points.

“The nature of food and beverages, a lot of those goods are perishables, so if you do not get that right or you do not get the take-up you need to make the event work it can be quite expensive to a small business.”

Mr Kosch said people could expect wine and beer dinners with local producers at The Henty and events such as Bottomless Brunches at The Commodore had been “really strong’’ and “well-attended”.

“That shows there is still a demand for these events,” Mr Kosch said.

“We’re hopeful that particularly the COVID announcements, or the isolation requirements, leads into a strong trading period for hospitality through November and December as people are celebrating Christmas and the working year.”

Mr Kosch said it was also great to see weddings held again after two years of very few weddings with many people who had their special day delayed or cancelled due to COVID.

“We feel like that’s going to be an area of demand, for wedding couples catching up over the next 12 months,” he said.